News
Imran ups the ante
* PTI chief says time for probe into alleged fraud in four constituencies over; demands audit of whole general election g Zardari’s five-year rule far better than first year’s performance of Nawaz
By Amir Jalil Bobra
ISLAMABAD: While rejecting the results of the last general elections, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) demanded their complete audit.
The party termed the present set-up “unconstitutional” and expressed support for mid-term elections as a democratic way for the continuity of “real democracy” in the country. Addressing media at his Banigala residence PTI Chairman Imran Khan said the “Azadi March” on August 14 would provide the masses a day to celebrate “real freedom from the corrupt political class” that has always dented the national image while snatching the mandate of the masses. Imran said that on August 14, the PTI would hold “Azadi March” in the federal capital and “expose facts about match fixing and pre-planned rigging” by the returning officers (ROs), Election Commission of Pakistan and other related institutes. The PTI chief said that if the government creates hurdles in the way of the party’s peaceful protest then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would stand responsible for any untoward situation in the federal capital. He said that during the Azadi March PTI will expose the names of general elections “match fixers” who managed the success of PML-N.
He said the party was demanding audit of whole election results of May 11 polls. Imran said the Afghan election commission has agreed to presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah’s demand for audit of eight million votes polled in that country’s general elections this year. He said if Afghanistan can go for a probe into rigging allegations then why can’t the incumbent government of Pakistan Muslim League-N do the same in only four constituencies.
PTI chairman thanked Pakistan Peoples’ Party co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari, who said earlier on Tuesday that there was no harm in vote recount and asked why the Nawaz government was afraid of recounting. Imran said Zardari’s five-year rule was far better than the one-year performance of Nawaz Sharif in the Centre and Punjab. He said the PPP had been providing electricity at half the rate as compared to today. “PPP left 480 billion rupees as circular debt after five years, but it was the PML-N government who accumulated the same debt in just 14 months’ of it srule.”
“Zardari is not hypocritical like the sitting rulers,” Imran said. He said the people who formulated the government “after snatching the mandate of the masses” have no right to rule the masses. He said the government plans to sabotage the “Azadi March” by announcing celebrations on the first fourteen days of August. The PML-N, he said, wanted a scuffle between the PTI workers and the army, but he asserted that the PTI activists never behaved like a mob, and “if army holds a parade in the morning we will have the gathering of Azadi March in evening”.
He said the PTI workers have remained calm for fourteen months and approached the ECP, Supreme Court of Pakistan, tribunals and parliament, but the present set-up remained indifferent and did not heed the PTI demand for thumbprints’ verifications of only four constituencies. Imran Khan claimed that the present PML-N government has manipulated the results of general elections in four constituencies. Imran Khan said those involved in the manipulation of election results and rigging would be exposed on August 14.
The PTI chief said that the federal government’s behaviour towards the internally displaced people (IDPs) is pathetic, and demanded that the government release Rs 20 billion to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. Answering a question regarding the brutal killing of Gaza’s Palestinians by the Israeli regime, Imran Khan condemned the Israeli aggression and added that the Muslim world has no leadership to cope up with the issue and.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk